Blues pianist Eddie Boyd’s 7936 South Rhodes was recorded in London in January 1968 with three members of the early lineup of Fleetwood Mac: Peter Green (guitar), John McVie (bass), and Mick Fleetwood(drums). It’s a tantalizing setting for Boyd’s straight up Chicago piano Blues, going heavier on the slow-to-mid-tempo numbers than the high-spirited ones.
Eddie Boyd (1914 – 1994) was born on Stovall’s Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, moving to the Beale Street district of Memphis, Tennessee in his twenties where he played piano and guitar with his group, the Dixie Rhythm Boys. In 1941, Boyd followed the great migration northward to the factories of Chicago. In the Fifties, he wrote and recorded the songs “Five Long Years”, “24 Hours”, and “Third Degree” (co-written byWillie Dixon), a rendition of which is included in this LP set.
During the Sixties’ Blues revival, Boyd toured Europe with Buddy Guy’s band, and he toured and recorded with Fleetwood Mac and John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Tired of the racial discrimination he experienced in the United States, he first moved to Belgium where he recorded with Dutch Blues band Cuby & The Blizzards. Boyd died in 1994 in Helsinki, Finland, just a few months before Eric Clapton released the chart-topping blues album, From The Cradle that included Boyd’s “Five Long Years” and “Third Degree”.
SIDE A
1. You Got To Reap
2. Just The Blues
3. She’s Real
4. Back Slack
5. Be Careful
6. Ten To One
SIDE B
1. The Blues Is Here To Stay
2. You Are My Love
3. Third Degree
4. Thank You Baby
5. She’s Gone
6. (I Can’t Stop) Loving You
